title: Barriers to end-of-life care for African Americans from the providers' perspective: opportunity for intervention development.
abstract: Research has shown that African Americans (AAs) are less likely to complete advance directives and enroll in hospice. We examined barriers to use of these end-of-life (EOL) care options by conducting semi-structured interviews with hospice and palliative medicine providers and leaders of a national health care organization. Barriers identified included: lack of knowledge about prognosis, desires for aggressive treatment, family members resistance to accepting hospice, and lack of insurance. Providers believed that acceptance of EOL care options among AAs could be improved by increasing cultural sensitivity though education and training initiatives, and increasing staff diversity. Respondents did not have programs currently in place to increase awareness of EOL care options for underrepresented minorities, but felt that there was a need to develop these types of programs. These data can be used in future research endeavors to create interventions designed to increase awareness of EOL care options for AAs and other underrepresented minorities.
authors.affiliation: Division of General Internal Medicine, UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, Dallas, TX, USA Department of Clinical Sciences, UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, Dallas, TX, USA Geriatrics Section, UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, Dallas, TX, USA Ramona.Rhodes@UTSouthwestern.edu.
authors.forename: Ramona L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Rhodes
authors.affiliation: Division of General Internal Medicine, UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, Dallas, TX, USA.
authors.forename: Kim
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Batchelor
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Sciences, UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, Dallas, TX, USA.
authors.forename: Simon C
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Division of General Internal Medicine, UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, Dallas, TX, USA Department of Clinical Sciences, UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, Dallas, TX, USA.
authors.forename: Ethan A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Halm
mesh_terms: D001741:Black or African American; D001294:Attitude to Health; D005190:Family; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D017051:Hospice Care / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D019458:Insurance Coverage; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000523:psychology; D012068:Religion and Medicine; D013727:Terminal Care; D035502:Trust
keywords: African Americans; barriers; disparities; hospice and palliative care; interventions; underutilization